COT welcomes new commissionerPhil Baughn has set his sights on making Commonwealth Office of Technology more efficient, customer centric and transparent.Baughn, 53, was introduced July 15, 2009 as the agency’s new Commissioner and State Chief Information Officer, replacing Finance and Administration Deputy Secretary Lori Flanery who had served in that role on an interim basis. His background in information technology, business, marketing, and sales has been lauded by Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary Jonathan Miller, who said he is eager to work with him to improve the efficiencies of information technology across state government.“I’m happy to have the opportunity to serve in this role for the Commonwealth,” Baughn said. “I look forward to bringing a new vision to help the organization excel at every level while enhancing our effectiveness and leadership.”His mission includes not only positioning COT to provide high-quality, cost-effective information management and technology solutions to support the business strategy and operations of the Commonwealth; but also focusing on improving customer service, becoming more “open” and strategic in thought and action, and, as the custodian of a wealth of information, to diligently manage many aspects of risk.“Quality in everything we do should be our number one priority - this is a big deal to me,” Baughn said. “We want to do it right, thoroughly and completely, the first time.”In his first meeting with the Commonwealth Technology Council, a group comprised of state government IT leaders, Baughn said that COT will continually strive to meet and exceed customer needs, demonstrate integrity and professionalism.“I really believe in doing the right thing for the greater good,” Baughn said. “I want COT folks to do what is right, and to ‘wear the Commonwealth hat,’ even if to our detriment.”Another point he made to the group was the organization’s commitment to IT security, adding the citizens of Kentucky and our other stakeholders expect that critical data will be protected. “We are the custodians for a wealth of information,” Baughn said. “It is our job to successfully manage the risk.”

BIO...Baughn began his career in Frankfort in 1977 leasing properties for the Commonwealth, but his resume since that time details much success in the private sector.Since 2002, he has served as executive vice president and CIO at TrakPro Software where he led corporate start-up efforts, product concept design, and managed internal and external systems design and oversight. Prior to that he was with two multi-national, publicly-traded companies. Baughn was VP of Marketing and Strategic Direction at SCT (now ACS and Sungard), provided IT staffing services to State and Local governments and developed the software which helps to run the majority of the nation’s courts and 51% of all higher education institutions around the world. The other, MarketStar Corporation (an Omnicom Group Company), provided the field marketing services for many of the biggest names in high-tech (e.g. – IBM, HP, Motorola, Sony-Ericson). Baughn was their VP for Administration and CIO.Baughn was also SVP of Administration and CIO for the James N. Gray Companies, where he restructured information technologies to align with the strategic business future and processes of the company. He also spent three years completely restructuring the technology efforts at the Council of State Governments – judged at the time as one of the 50 largest (in terms of staff size) non-profit agencies in the U.S. He also was Regional Sales Manager for Dictaphone Corporation much earlier in his career.

Other facts...Baughn and his wife, Ann, just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in June. He said he is an avid golfer and enjoys tennis, but admits his favorite hobby is riding his Harley-Davidson Softail Deuce. Baughn said he does not ride the bike to work because it “wouldn’t look right to show up to work with a bug on my tie.” Baughn shares the same birth date as Bill Gates, but he jokes that Gates’ retirement account has many more zeros.

Books in his collection: “The Death of Common Sense,” by Philip K. Howard.“Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times” by Donald T. Phillips“Disaster Survival Planning: Preparing Plans,” by Judy Bell“The Discipline of Market Leaders,” by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema“Measuring the Value of Knowledge: Metrics for the Knowledge-Based Business,” by David Skyrme“QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter,” by Richard Feynman, a book about quantum electrodynamics. “I actually understood the first two-thirds," he said.